As a former High School teacher, I can confirm the cliche about English teachers keeping a manuscript (or the stirrings of one) buried somewhere in their desk. It’s true–nearly every book-loving educator I know either writes or harbors fantasies about doing so when they retire. It makes perfect sense; teachers are surrounded by stories and characters every day, not just in the texts they use to create conversations in the classroom, but of course in the lives of the students who must navigate their own narratives before the eyes of educators every day.
This is why the teachers who shepherd their students to Adirondack Center for Writing’s annual High School Writing Retreat at Paul Smith’s College tend to sit inside the workshop rooms, scribbling their own responses to the visiting poets’ prompts. It’s why teachers’ names often populate the lists of our open mics and story slams. It’s why teachers walk away from our writing festival with agents excited to bring their books to market. It’s why we offer flexible, asynchronous online classes each winter so that busy adults can learn new creative writing skills, get feedback from professionals, and build community with other writers, all without needing to leave the house or crowd out their schedule. It’s why we do what we do.
Because the Adirondack Center for Writing believes everyone is a writer, which is why we create opportunities to discover writing, reading, and storytelling for kids, teenagers, adults, the elderly, the incarcerated, and, honestly, anyone who is curious. This core idea has guided our work for 25 years–we bring people and words together. Although we’re way-up-north in Saranac Lake, ACW reaches new and experienced writers all over upstate New York and beyond.
What ACW Can Offer You as a Writer
Online classes – January to March, annually (2025 classes open for registration now)
Each winter, ACW hosts a suite of 5-week online writing classes in a variety of genres led by accomplished faculty. In 2025 we’re offering a creative nonfiction class focused on how your hometown can become the physical and emotional landscape of an essay; a class about the joys and pitfalls of contemporary humor writing; a class about how to read poems through an expansive lens in order to strengthen your writing with honesty and latitude. We also have a class on fabulist short fiction, writing performances for the stage, and how to submit your work for publication.
Students receive one-on-one, constructive feedback from their instructor in addition to expanding their writing community with members of the class. Best of all, we offer classes on a sliding scale donation, so you can pay as little as $50 for 5-weeks of instruction, assignments, readings, and discussions. “The compassionate tone of the instructor’s feedback and the specific guidance for writing revisions was awesome,” says one student. “Enough praise to keep you going, enough criticism to not make you hopeless, and just the right kind of comments.
Writing Festival – Every other June
Every other summer, ACW organizes a regional literary festival (The Kickass Writers Festival) where attendees can take workshops with stellar writers, hear impassioned readings, and conference with publishing professionals. Last summer’s festival saw hundreds of attendees from across the northeast gather in Saranac Lake for two days of events. Some left with piles of books, some with lists of new friends and connections, and some even left with an agent. Look for our next festival in the summer of 2026.
Weekly Writing Prompts – Weekly, rolling submissions
Like clockwork, ACW sends out a Monday morning newsletter with announcements about upcoming ACW programs and opportunities for writers, readers, and storytellers from around the region. At the bottom of each email is a new writing prompt, which many in our audience will write in response to and then send us their response. We publish pieces on our blog, giving anyone an accessible first step to publishing their work and finding readership.
Drop-in Workshops – Monthly, in-person
If you live up near us in the Adirondacks, each month we host either a drop-in, in-person workshop or an open mic with a featured reader. Both opportunities give adults a physical space to be in community with other writers (and writing-curious people). Our drop-in workshops focus on one specific technique or approach to writing, set participants off on exercises, and provide time for sharing. Our open mics offer the chance to work out a new piece of writing before a warm, supportive audience. As a writer myself, I often commit to attending an open mic as a way to give myself a deadline to complete a draft of a flash fiction or poem, and then I use the audience’s response to inform revision and editing decisions before I submit it for publication.
PoemVillage – Annual (deadline: March 17, 2025)
If you’re a poet, or if you’ve always wanted to try, ACW produces an annual public art project called PoemVillage. So long as you live at least part of the year in the “North Country” (commonly viewed as north of Saratoga – Utica – Syracuse), you’re invited to send us a poem on any topic under 25 lines, and we’ll publish it on a beautiful, large format broadside poster to be installed in a Saranac Lake shop window for the months of April and May. Due to the popularity of this long-running program, we’re now installing poems in Malone, Plattsburgh, and Potsdam in addition to Saranac Lake.
What ACW Can Offer You as an Educator
Speaking of PoemVillage…did I mention it’s all ages? Teachers will encourage students to write and submit poems, and then bring their students to Saranac Lake to do a walking tour of the installation. They can find their own poem and pose for a photo before going out in search of other poems that inspire them. ACW invites elementary, middle, and high schools to our writing center in Saranac Lake for a collaborative writing exercise and a celebration of their creative work.
Wild Words – Annual (deadline: March 3, 2025)
Teens living in the North Country are also welcome to submit their creative writing in any genre to our annual Wild Words Teen Writing Anthology. Across our first two issues (2023 + 2024) we published 140 teen writers across every county in and around the Adirondacks. Not only is the anthology beautifully designed and professionally edited, but it’s also made available for free at our Launch party and then given out for a $5 donation throughout the year. It’s inspiring to see teenagers from all walks of life celebrated for their writing, and hearing their voices give life to their words at the launch party always brings me great hope for the future, a feeling I’m sure educators are familiar with.
High School Writing Retreat – Annual (last week of October at Paul Smith’s College)
Each October ACW invites high schools to bring their young readers and writers to Paul Smith’s College for a 2-day retreat where they work with four diverse and electrifying authors (spoken word poets, fantasy writers, cultural critics and more) and meet hundreds of other young people as they practice expressing themselves with confidence, power, and honesty. It’s here each Fall that I miss being a teacher the most as I hear story after story from educators about how they witnessed students they’ve rarely heard speak a word get up on the mic and find their voice.
Teens Speak – Monthly, rolling
For more opinionated, topical writing, I work one-on-one with talented teen writers for a monthly column published in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise called Teens Speak. Whether it’s how candidates view climate change, how smartphone addiction exacerbates youth loneliness, or how fashion trends speak to Gen Z’s many moods, this column gives a different teenager each month the chance to make an argument and back it up. We welcome reviews of books, films, and music as well. The best part is that writers for this column receive real-world publishing experience, from meeting deadlines to returning revisions to writing their own author bio. They get a publishing credit for their resume as well as a small stipend for the work. This is just one more way ACW trains young writers to be strong and talented life-long communicators.
For more information
For more information about any of the above programs, please reach out to Tyler Barton at info@adirondackcenterforwriting.org, and happy writing! Follow us at @adkctr4writing
Tyler Barton is the Program Manager for the Adirondack Center for Writing in Saranac Lake, NY. He’s the author of Eternal Night at the Nature Museum, and The Quiet Part Loud. Learn more at tsbarton.com or follow him at @tylerbartonlol on Instagram.
